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Donald Trump (on May 1, 2023)

Photo: ANDY BUCHANAN / AFP

In the secret documents affair surrounding Donald Trump, there are increasing signs of a possible imminent indictment against the former US president. Several U.S. media reported on Wednesday evening (local time) that prosecutors from the team of special investigator Jack Smith had informed Trump's lawyers that he is personally the target of their investigation.

According to the reports, this is a precursor to a possible indictment against the 76-year-old Republican, who wants to run again in the 2024 presidential election. The »New York Times« and the news channel CNN, among others, reported on the information provided to the lawyers. According to the New York Times, Trump himself denies that he was informed.

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) seized numerous documents, including many with classification levels, during a raid on Trump's private estate Mar-a-Lago in the US state of Florida last August. Trump had taken the documents with him from the White House to Mar-a-Lago at the end of his term in January 2021.

According to a law, presidents must hand over official documents to the National Archives after the end of their term of office. In addition, there are strict legal rules for dealing with secret documents.

Ex-chief of staff has already been questioned

It had just become known that Trump's former chief of staff Mark Meadows had testified. He was reportedly questioned in connection with a special counsel's investigation into the former president. According to reports, it was also about the secret documents. In addition, an incriminating audio document had surfaced.

Trump was indicted in March as the first ex-president in U.S. history, it was about a hush money payment to the actress Stormy Daniels before the presidential election in 2016.

The trial in New York in the affair is scheduled to begin in the spring of next year – and thus in the middle of the Republican primary campaign for the presidential candidacy.

The Republican criticizes the numerous investigations against him as politically motivated and claims that it is merely an attempt by his opponents to prevent him from returning to the White House. Trump officially announced last November that he wanted to run again as a candidate in the presidential election in November 2024.

jok/AFP